Disc bakes are now being employed more and more often, not only in passenger cars but also in commercial vehicles having a total permissible weight of tens of tons. Owing to the greater mass and engine capacity of these vehicles, such disc brakes have to meet special requirements in terms of their braking capacity and reliability.
A brake lining having the above-mentioned features has already been disclosed in German patent application DE 197 54 740 A1. Here, the brake shoe has a lining carrier consisting of two laminarly arranged carrier elements. These two carrier elements are made of different materials in order to positively influence, on the one hand, the heat-transfer behavior of the brake shoe and, on the other hand, the generation of braking noise. These two carrier elements are joined to each other using an adhesive interlayer. For purposes of strengthening the bond of the two carrier elements to each other, especially in the circumferential direction, one of the carrier elements has angled tabs that extend into correspondingly shaped pockets of the other carrier element so as to interlock. This is intended to ensure a reliable transmission of longitudinal force between the carrier elements.
Furthermore, German patent application DE 10 2005 009 398 A1 describes a pair of brake linings for a disc brake, whereby the lining carrier plate has different configurations and dimensions that are adapted as a function of the occurring loads, especially the bending loads, and of the installation space available for the brake calipers. Thus, it is provided, for example, for the lining carrier plate to be made of a cast part, whereby the lining carrier plate can have depressions or elevations as well as holes that correspond to and interlock with the friction lining. In this context, the lining carrier plate is preferably made as a cast part, which allows a flexible shaping of the lining carrier plate, for instance, with reinforcement ribs and interlocking parts.
The configuration of the lining carrier plates as cast parts rather than as a sheet metal part such as a steel plate is only cost-effective in large production runs. Since the market for commercial vehicles cannot be compared to that of passenger cars and also because there is a high level of diversity among the various types of brakes, the brake linings of a given brake type are only manufactured in relatively small production runs.
Moreover, the lining carrier plates described in German patent application DE 10 2005 009 398 A1 have a quite complex inner geometry in order to be able to adequately meet the strength and load requirements. The configuration and design as well as the production of such lining carrier plates, for instance, with strengthening struts, is relatively expensive and complicated in view of the geometry being adapted to the loads that occur. Last but not least, a relatively large amount of material is needed for such brake linings and lining carrier plates, so that in the final analysis, their total weight increases.